What is ISDN PRI/BRI ?
ISDN stands for Integrated Services Data network. ISDN is a set of communication standards or protocols for glutenous transmission of voice, data, video or any other network services using the same pair of wires being widely used in PSTN ( Public Switched Trunk Network). ISDN normally comes in two configurations BRI ( Basic rate interface) and PRI ( Primary rate Interface). In a nutshell, BRI provides two 64kbps links while PRI provides either 30 64KPBS lines or 24 64KBPS lines depending on E1 or T1 connectivity.
Major benefit of ISDN over POTS ( plain old telephone system), same pair of wires could be used for multiple services or same service multiple times which otherwise needed more pair of wires.
ISDN in PBX
ISDN link is now a days almost standard feature for any higher end PBX systems. It provides many useful features to a PBX. ISDN PRI is also widely used to connect to various CTI applications.
Many PBX manufacturer provides ISDN PRI facility extra in a child board or PCB which could be plugged in main PBX cabinet for extra ISDN channel or functionality. Since ISDN facility is costly and normally required for high end voice/data or networking applications, many provide them in separate PCB or module for future enhancements.
USAGE of ISDN in PBX
ISDN feature is used in PBX in many ways. Some of the important usage are:-
1. Connect Multiple PBX Systems
ISDN PRI is widely used to connect multiple PBX systems for making wide area network. Easiest way to connect two PBX systems are using a transparent 2MBPS data link using ISDN PRI protocol. A big network of PBX systems in a large geographical area could be created for voice and data networking using ISDN.
2. Connecting CTI Applications
ISDN is one of the easiest and most widely used interfacing protocol to connect CTI Applications. ISDN provides many call related information line caller ID, Dialed Number Identification (DNI) etc. which provides CTI applications opportunity to create many advanced CTI applications.
3. DID/DOD Facility
Advanced features of PBX like DID ( Direct Inward Dialing), DOD ( Direct Outward Dialing), Auto attendant etc. could be implemented using ISDN PRI in PBX system.
4. ACD Group and Call Center
Advanced ACD ( Automatic Call Distribution) groups could create using ISDN PRI links. PBX with ISDN PRI link is very useful in call center PBX systems where advanced call routing is required to provide calls to human agents uniformly.
Though ISDN has been taken over by other technologies like SS7, ADSL, ISDN is still widely used in PBX. For any high end PBX or any PBX which aims to offer many advanced communication and networking feature, ISDN link support is a must.
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